Streaming Retro 10" CRT TV with Built-in Chromecast!

First off, to really get a feel how this TV works and how it's used in our home, check out my demo on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkuh3pqbn9o
This is my Chromecast 1978 General Electric 10” color portable TV. I saved this little guy from being smashed into oblivion when the trash was picked up! I gave the TV the ability to automatically power on and off after 5 mins, depending on cast activity. This is for convenience, and to save the life of the picture tube.
You can’t deny these old TV sets look cool, and definitely have style, but most people have no need for standard def, and the non widescreen aspect, 4:3. I’m interested in vintage electronics, and with this TV still working, I thought it would be cool to turn this into a versatile device with everything built-in that would be useful to watch stuff on youtube, or stream stereo audio to my audio setup. I wanted it to be something that was still useful in 2016, yet retain it’s charming vintage looks, and original function as an A/V device. It may not be HD or widescreen, but the picture isn't half bad, despite the ultra low resolution of this specific TV.

Unlike vintage audio equipment, vintage video equipment doesn't get the same amount of love. By adding a Chromecast and stereo analog audio line output from the HDMI to analog adapter I thought it would make a cool looking audio streaming device with the option of displaying album art and song info on the screen, or even music videos on Youtube, Something the audio only "Chromecast audio" can't do. However to our surprise, we actually like watching our youtube subscriptions and Netflix on this little TV, It mainly lives at our kitchen table now.

This GIF shows how the TV now operates with the built in chromecast, your phone or tablet becomes the remote control, so you can find what to watch, and control volume right from your phone. The beauty of the Chromecast, is that you do not deal with it directly, as there is no on screen menus to navigate through to find content to watch, or even setup WIFI. With old TV’s (and especially this particular GE 10” TV with it’s ultra low resolution), navigating through menus to stream content is very hard to see, due to the fact the HDMI designed devices, scale text much smaller to be displayed on larger 16:9 widescreen, and higher display resolutions. Thankfully, the Chromecast does everything through your mobile device (phone or tablet). WIFI is also setup through through the mobile device, and the Chromecast can even adjust the the volume through the volume controls on your mobile device. PERFECT! Despite my mention of it’s low resolution, and text being hard to sometimes read, it still does a nice job of displaying actual video content.

Dem antennas! One meter each!

Now i've built everthing into my set, to keep things clean. For obvious reasons, I cannot go into detail about how I did this, because these old TV's can KILL you. I will go into a basic easy to do run down of how to get HDMI hooked up to an old TV for anyone that's curious.

Here's all the adapters needed to feed this old timer a signal from an HDMI device. The next few picture will you an overview of what they do.

Last stop, this little adapter, takes the 75 ohm coaxial cable, and converts it into 300 ohm twin lead which gets screwed to the two VHF terminals on the back of the TV. Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/300-Ohm-UHF-Matching-Transformer/dp/B0002ZPIOG
75 ohm Coaxial Cable with F Type Connector: http://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-103031-Shield-Coaxial-Connector/dp/B003L1AG72
If you are looking to do this, depending on what era your TV is from, and what connections it offers on the back, you may only need 1, 2, or 3 of these adapters. As you can see, I needed all three.
This is where the DIY portion of my project ends. I simply cannot advise electrically inexperienced people to open these old sets up, stuff everything inside and make internal connections as I've done in the next few pictures. These old TV’s operate at very high constant voltage, and the possibility of painful shock, or even lethal heart stopping electrocution is VERY possible if you do not posses the knowledge, equipment, and respect to properly deal with them. Also, with stuffing all the adapters inside a small TV like the one I used, the possibility of starting an electrical fire is also very real.

I've managed to shrink that mess down to something more manageable with the use of "barrel connectors" in place of RCA cables.

Saved from the trash heep, but turned out to be a pretty sweet little upcycle project, with automatic power on and power off function, all controlled by your phone or tablet. Built in internet streaming for watching YouTube or Netfilx, stereo line out for hooking up to audio system for music streaming.